Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

Mar 16:3-4

Who shall roll us away the stone?

The death unto sin

So said the women who came to see Christ, who had died upon the cross. Are they the last who have had the like fears on a like occasion? Has not every Christian who has set himself in earnest to the work of following Christ in His death been alarmed at an equal difficulty? Are not many frightened at the very outset of their course?

I. The stone at the door. Surely no one who understands anything of the nature of his Christian profession expects to maintain it without trial of his strength; he that seeks Christ crucified and dead for sin, sees that he has first of all to roll away the stone from the sepulchre. This exclamation of the women is continually the cry of our weak nature, of the old man within us who is of little faith, and sees not that the finger of God is stronger than the arm of man. And to our natural weakness the devil adds his wiles to add to our perplexities.

1. To seek Christ as dead for our sins is to resolve to forsake them, and to follow Him to His sepulchre with |he earnest desire and full determination of crucifying some sinful affection and resisting some evil inclination or purpose.

2. When a man begins to attempt this a struggle ensues, and he discovers his own weakness. Every sin, every infirmity; pleads to be heard before it be turned off from his service. Who demands from you such a surrender of your former habits? Are you to live a life of continual struggle? Is watching unto righteousness as pleasant as sleeping in sin? Is swimming against the flood of ungodliness as easy as swimming with it? Is a distant prize, which you may miss, to be preferred to one at hand which is certain? So says the law of sin, and thus, with all his desire to follow Christ unto His death and burial, he is at the same time tempted with a number of hindrances which seem effectually to block up the way, and if he feels the spirit to be willing, he also feels the flesh to be weak. He begins to despair of strength to remove them, and asks in his despondency, Who shall roll me away the stone from the door of the sepulchre, that I may see and find Christ crucified for me?

II. The stone rolled away.

1. As the women who uttered these words had no sooner spoken them than they saw that the stone was already rolled away, so it befalls everyone who through the sincere purpose of the death unto sin, seeks Christ crucified. Those hindrances, which his weak unassisted nature never could so much as hope to remove, are rolled away by the arm of the power of God. If he feels the power of the death of his Saviour, he feels also the glorious power of His resurrection; he is enabled by the grace of God to overcome all the hindrances and stones of offence which before seemed so great and difficult of removal.

2. Many there are who would rather forsake a course of carelessness and forgetfulness of God; they see its folly and unreasonableness; they perceive in what it must end; but they have not the resolution to free themselves. They no sooner see the sepulchre of Christ, and the spot where they must become partakers in His death by dying to their besetting sin, than they give up the trial, crying out that the thing is impossible. But this would not be so if they accompanied hearty prayer to the Lord with hearty endeavours at removing the hindrances from the way. Let them begin to practise with the lighter ones, with overcoming, e.g., the habit of frivolous excuses, which is so general an obstacle to a consistent course. When a man has once overcome one ever so frivolous, he is prepared for overcoming one more serious. And when he has overcome it, he is quite astonished and ashamed that he should ever for a moment have yielded to it. He is thenceforward convinced that all the rest are not at all more serious and substantial, and goes to work with them, with the strong hand of a just indignation at having been so be-fooled and periled by them; and thus, under the grace of God, his faith becomes strong enough to remove mountains. (R. W. Evans, M. A.)

Fear exaggerating danger

When the first ironclad vessel was used in naval warfare, the news of its victory sent a panic through the Federal rulers. At a cabinet meeting called on receipt of the news, Mr. Stanton, the Secretary of State, said: This will change the whole character of the war; she will destroy seriatim every naval vessel; she will lay all the cities on the seaboard under contribution. Port Royal must be abandoned; the governors and authorities must take instant measures to protect their harbours. Looking out of the window, which commanded a view of the Potomac for many miles, he said, Not unlikely, we shall have a shell or cannonball from one of her guns in the White House before we leave this room. Mr. Seward, usually buoyant and self-reliant, was overwhelmed with the intelligence, and listened in responsive sympathy to Stanton; he was greatly depressed, as, indeed, were all the members.

Needless fears

The trouble we expect scarcely ever comes. How much pain the evils cost us that have never happened! (George Moore.)

Difficulties are phantoms

There is a beautiful tradition among the American Indians that Manaton was travelling in the invisible world, and that he came upon a hedge of thorns, and after a while he saw wild beasts glare upon him from the thicket, and after a while he saw an impassable river; but, as he determined to proceed, and did go on, the thorns turned to phantoms; the wild beasts a powerless ghost; the river, only the phantom of a river. And it is the simple fact of our lives that the vast majority of the obstacles in our way disappear when we march upon them. (Dr. Talmage.)

How to deal with difficulties

Dr. Raleigh used to tell of an old Scotch minister who, when he came to a peculiarly difficult passage of Scripture, would say to his people, No doubt, my brethren, there is great difficulty here; all the commentators are agreed upon that; so let us look the difficulty boldly in the face, and-pass on!

Help from above

It much perplexed these women how they should roll away the tombstone, and so purchase the sight of their beloved Master; but He that has given His angels charge over His children, that they hurt not their foot against a stone, sent a messenger from heaven to roll back that huge stone for them. Even as a loving father, when he carries his little child to the town, will let him alone to walk in the plain and fair way; but, when he comes to slippery paths, he takes him by the hand, and in dirty passages bears him in his arms, and, when he comes to a stile, gently lifts him over; so God, our heavenly Father, uses His dear children. If they endeavour to go as far as they may in the ways of His commandments, so fast as they can in the way to the celestial Jerusalem, He will assist them in danger, and help them over stiles of discouragement; take away all rubs of offence, remove all blocks and hindrances in their passage; and the very great stone parting Christ and them, even while they least think of it, shall be rolled away. (Dean Boys.)

The opened sepulchre

Beneath Westminster Abbey is an old cloister which for centuries was used as the burial place of the early kings. There, in their stone sarcophagi, are the remains of the Saxon sovereigns, some of them over twelve hundred years entombed. It is related that one day, a few years since, a visitor, who had wandered into this vault, was locked in. He did not notice as the door swung together. The janitors were busy. The usual throng of visitors was in the spacious building. No one heard the muffled voice which began to cry from the cloister, or the muffled blows which began to beat upon its oaken door. The afternoon passed away. What that imprisoned man suffered, as it gradually grew upon him that he was buried alive, who can know? At the usual hour the janitor made his evening rounds, before closing the building for the night. The entombed man heard him as his footsteps came near, then retreated, came near again, then, finally receding, grew fainter and fainter, and died away at length in the distance. What imagination can conceive his agony! He redoubled his cries. He shrieked. He dashed himself wildly against the solid door. In vain. Now he thought he heard the distant entrance doors creak on their hinges, and the key pushed into the great iron lock. In a moment more the vast tomb would be closed for the night. Fortunately, before turning the key, the janitor paused a moment and listened. He thought he heard dull blows, faint and far away, a sound as of stifled, agonizing cries. He listened more intently. A horrible thought suggested itself to his mind: Someone is locked into the cloister. He hastened to the place, threw open the heavy oaken door, and held his lantern up to see. The buried man had fallen senseless upon the stone floor. He was rescued just in time to save his reason. Were it not for the resurrection of Jesus Christ, we men had been like that poor wretch, helplessly and hopelessly beating against the bolted door of a living tomb. Some tell us that Christ came to influence men, to draw us to God, to make an effectual appeal to men by His life and His death to repent and imitate Him. Is this all? we ask. We lay away our friends, and over the coffin and the tomb we say: Jesus is the Resurrection and the Life. If He is not; if He is dead; then we ask in awe-struck dread: Who shall roll us away the stone? Christ came to bring life and immortality to light. What hope could we have if He still lay in His grave? What would this earth then be but the eternal grave and charnel house of the human race? (G. R. Leavitt.)

The stone was rolled away.
The door unlocked

Some time since we wished to enter a strange church with a minister, a little before the time for service. We procured a key, but tried in vain to unlock the outside door with it. We concluded we had brought the wrong key, so sent to the janitor for the right one. But he came and told us that the door was already unlocked. All we had to do was to push, and the door would open. We thought ourselves locked out, when there was nothing but that mistaken thought to hinder us from entering. In the same way we fail to enter into love and fellowship with God. The door, we think, is locked against us. We try to fit some key of extraordinary faith to open it. We try to get our minds wrought up to some high pitch of feeling. We say, I have the wrong key; I must feel more sorry; I must weep more. And all the time the door is ready to open. If we but come boldly, with humble earnestness, to the throne of grace, we may enter at once, without having to unlock the door. Christ is the door, and His heart is not shut against us. We must enter without stopping to fit our key of studied faith, for His mercy is not locked up. We must enter boldly, trustingly, not doubting His readiness to receive us just as we are. He is willing already, and we must not stop to make Him willing by our prayers or our tears. (Anon.)

Sunshine in a shady place

The place where Jesus lay was a dark spot to His disciples. Little did they know that speedily He was to leave that grave, victor over death, and that heavens rare sunshine should come to that shady place. Yet so it was. Other captains may gather laurels from a hundred fields, their very names may be proverbs of conquest; but when they lie in the narrow house appointed for all living, they cease from fight, and no more conquests are in store for them. Not so was it with the Captain of our salvation. His greatest victory was gained in the grave and over it. Every hour of His life yielded the palm to that in which He rose from death.

I. Christs rising was to His disciples the resurrection of hope.

1. It proved to them the acceptance of His atonement.

2. It was to them a verification of all His claims.

II. Christs rising was to His disciples the resurrection of courage. What changed men they were after Easter Day! The craven deserters were thereafter bold as lions.

III. Christs rising was to His disciples the resurrection of religious activity. Till He rose, their activities were paralyzed. When He rose, how they began to preach the gospel of the grace of God; and, more than all besides, they preached not Jesus and the cross, but Jesus and the resurrection-the empty sepulchre, rather than the uplifted cross. (George T. Coster.)

Empty sepulchres

1. There are some sepulchres from which we would not desire to roll the stone away. The past has many such sepulchres. In that past there is a sepulchre in which corpses lie-corpses of sinful facts; corpses of broken vows; corpses of old hates; corpses of old loves. Oh! that we could never see them more. Oh! that we could forget their very names.

2. But there is another sepulchre of the past where there do lie some things very sweet, holy, and precious. We long to live these memories over again. We long to walk again, hand in hand, with childlike trust, beside the Galilean lake, or climb the Judean mount with one who lies asleep and has gone into the memory sepulchre. Let us keep our spices ready. When the bitter Sabbath which has followed the sorrowful interment shall have passed, there will be an Easter morn, and as we run sobbing to the sepulchre we shall see the splendours of the face and hear the music of the voice of our risen and immortal Lord. (Dr. Deems.)

Love takes us to Jesus

It is not my work to roll away the stone, but it is my duty to go to the grave. Nay, we will not talk of duty. Love sends me to Jesus, living or dead. My love does that. His love will see that the stone is rolled away. (Dr. Deems.)

Love works for faith

It is said that love is blind. I do not believe it. Love is full of eyes. The sharp-eyed intellect-that Polyphemus of the brain which has only one eye-may miss many a thing. Even cunning, that carries a calcium lamp, may fail to see many a thing. But love will see all. Love is the highest philosophy. Love is the eyes of faith. Love is the hand of faith. Be not faithless, and then you will not be loveless nor blind. (Dr. Deems.)

The power of the resurrection

The facts of our religion are, when rightly appreciated, so many moral forces for the soul, incorporating ideas which give courage and gladness, and containing principles which are at the root of conduct and life. Preeminent among them all is the resurrection. Faith in this is the one and only force that adequately enables us to roll away the stones that encounter us in the struggles of life. What St. Paul calls the power of the resurrection is for all of us the mighty secret of a steady triumph over temptation, difficulty, and sorrow.

I. The resurrection is a power to heal conscience. Looking back upon the cross and forward to the ascension, it tells us both of pardon and righteousness.

II. The resurrection is a power to ennoble duty. In its light life is seen to be worth living, for the stone of a purposeless and brief existence is rolled away, and with its new aims, responsibilities, functions, and motives, this life on earth has a new meaning and force. There is its stupendous responsibility, for some day we shall rise to receive the things done in our body, i.e., their results, whether they be good or bad. There is its universal jurisdiction. For the resurrection of the race, like its inevitable mortality, is generically bound up with the resurrection of its Head (1Co 15:22). There is its potential grace (Col 3:1). There is its majestic consecration (Rom 12:1).

III. The resurrection is a power to explain death. It shows us that death is not the end of our journey, only a stage in it. Because Christ lives, we shall live also. We have each of us to go down alone to the brink of the river, and to leave behind us all we have ever known and possessed and loved, and to pass into another condition of which we have no kind of experience, and most probably to abandon schemes but half completed, and lessons but scantily learned. Yet in the world to which we go, there will be leisure enough in the great spaces of eternity to mellow and develop in that land which needeth not sun or moon to lighten it, the gems of thought and action which we sowed here.

IV. The resurrection is a power to console sorrow. (Bishop Thorold.)

Courage rewarded

Scipio Africanus besieged a city in Spain well fortified every way, and wanting nothing, and no hope did appear to take it. In the meantime Scipio heard many causes pleaded before him, and put off one before it was ended, to be heard three days after; and, being asked by his officers where he would keep his next court, he pointed to the chief citadel of the besieged city, and told them he would hear the cause there. In that space he became master of the town, and did as he had appointed. He was not more confident to enter into a city fortified against him, by his valour, than these women were to enter by faith into a sepulchre sealed and shut up, but the Lord is present with courageous attempts, and He sent His angel to assist them. (Bishop Hacker.)

The rolled stone

The angel was present on this occasion for-

1. A witness. The empty sepulchre confirmed his words.

2. A preparation. They were soon to see the Lord in His glorious resurrection-body.

3. A pledge. Peace established between heaven and earth. A new and sweet communion opened.

4. A help. They could not have moved the stone without assistance. God always aids those who seek to go onwards in the path of duty. An angel is ever by holy places-thoughts-words-works, leading us upwards to higher gifts. (M. Faber.)

The question of the bereaved heart answered

I. Why was there ever a sepulchre on earth? A sepulchre tells of sorrow, sickness, bereavement, death. By one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin.

II. Why was there a sepulchre for Jesus? To remove all doubt as to the reality of His death.

III. Why was that stone put there? St. Matthew gives the reason. The very means by which they hoped to prevent the resurrection, were made the occasion of more glorious triumph. Thus did God cause the wrath of man to praise Him, and the plottings of enemies to give the strongest proofs of His resurrection.

IV. Who rolled that stone away and for what purpose? Had the Lord rolled it away it would have been said that He was not dead, but only in a state of trance. We must not weep as if we had no one to roll away the stone from the sepulchre. The grave will hold our bodies but a little while. (Bishop Stevens.)

Imaginary difficulties

We may note some important lessons which this incident teaches.

1. That gloomy forebodings should never prevent us from doing our duty.

2. That those who talk of difficulties, have frequently but little knowledge of the actual state of affairs.

3. That difficulties, as difficulties, are sometimes more imaginary than real.

I. The fears of an awakened sinner. These are represented in the earnest inquiry of the woman. Whence these fears?

1. They may be due to want of thorough knowledge of Gods character.

2. That men who are exceedingly anxious in reference to any matter are prone to dwell upon the dark side.

Let us look at the different forms which these fears assume.

1. The awaked sinner sometimes doubts the readiness of God to receive him.

2. Fears that he can never lead a godly life.

3. Fears that he will never be ready for heaven.

II. That these fears are groundless. This is represented in the fact recorded here. Note-

1. That difficulties are oftentimes advantages.

2. Difficulties generally dwindle away as we grapple with them.

3. God has abundantly provided against every difficulty. (D. Rowlands, B. A.)

Difficulties removed

Prospective difficulties in the path of duty, persons often find removed when they come to the place of meeting them. This may be inferred-

I. From the experience of Gods people. Instance Abraham, Moses, the Israelites in the time of Joshua and Esther, the three Hebrews, Daniel, etc., the apostles and primitive Christians, etc.

II. From the promises of God.

1. The promises of God should not inspire us with a false confidence, blind us to the consequences of our conduct, or render us remiss in endeavours to know the will of God. We may be presumptuous in our reliance on the government and promises of God.

2. God has, in the Scriptures, given assurance of a special providence over those who obey His commands.

3. Professors of religion have suffered much in peace of mind, and in efficiency of Christian character, because, by apparent difficulties in prospect, they have been deterred from going forward in duty, when, had they trusted in God and gone forward, they would not have experienced the difficulties anticipated.

4. Where God directs, there go. What God commands, that do. (G. A. Calhoun.)

Hindrances removed

I. Look more carefully and minutely at the narrative. Costly were the spices brought by Nicodemus, costlier than they could buy; but the first anointing was hurried, the time before Jewish Sabbath so brief. With womens eyes they saw defects, deplored haste. They would anoint carefully. Love prompted resolution; love is often oblivious of hindrances. They had not thought of the stone which the combined strength of many had rolled into its place.

II. The narrative speaks to us on this Easter Day of-

1. A work of love.

(1) Love prompted the purchase of spices; the preparation, the early journey to tomb. Love compelled them with sweet compulsion.

(2) Love to Christ has led to greater sacrifices, more toilsome work; e.g., love led St. Paul to give up all things; St. Peter to go to prison and unto death. Motive power of all true work for Christ, love.

2. The cause of that love.

(1) Mary Magdalene loved Christ as her Deliverer, Emancipator. Mary the mother of James, and Salome the mother of James and John, loved Him because of what He had been to their sons as well as to themselves.

(2) We love Him because He first loved us.

3. The hindrances which seem to be in the way of performing the work of love Many great stones in our way.

(1) Our ignorance, incompetency, insufficiency.

(2) The worlds sin, indifference, distrust, sorrow.

(3) The formality of the Church lack of unity and love.

(4) Other hindrances of which we may be as ignorant as women were of seal and guard. Who is sufficient for these things? Who shall roll these stones away?

4. These hindrances are more than removed if we go on in spite of them. The stone was rolled away, and the Lord was risen. A living present Saviour our strength and joy. (J. M. Blackie, LL. B.)

Symbol of the resurrection

A monument erected to the memory of a Spanish lady was of peculiar and happy design. It represented a full-sized marble coffin, with the lid burst open, revealing the place where the body had lain. A Bible and a cross lay in the vacant place upon the grave clothes, and on the inside of the half-raised lid these words were graven: Non est hic, sed resurrexit. (Burritt.)

Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell

These were their thoughts as they were coming. Concerning the guard which they had set by Pilates permission at the importunity of the Jewish priests and rulers, it is probable (the day before being the Jewish sabbath, in the observation of which the Jews were very strict) they had not heard, so were not solicitious as to them; but they knew of the stone rolled to the mouth of the sepulchre: but they were in vain solicitous; when they came they found the stone rolled away, Christ was risen before.

Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole

3. And they said among themselvesasthey were approaching the sacred spot.

Who shall roll us away thestone from the door of the sepulchre? . . . for it was very greatOnreaching it they find their difficulty gonethe stone alreadyrolled away by an unseen hand. And are there no others who, whenadvancing to duty in the face of appalling difficulties, find theirstone also rolled away?

Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible

And they said among themselves,…. Either before they set out, or as they were going along:

who shall roll us away the stone from the door of the sepulchre? Which they saw was placed there by Joseph, or his orders: this was the only difficulty they had, that they were aware of; for they seem to know nothing of the sealing of the stone, and of the watch that was set to guard the sepulchre: things which were done on the sabbath day, on which they rested: for had they, in all likelihood they would never have attempted to have gone to it; the guard of soldiers would have been a sufficient discouragement: but all their concern was, how, and by whom, the stone should be rolled away, that lay at the door of the sepulchre; and perhaps their concern might be, not only on account of the largeness of the stone, as being too much for them to remove, but because such a stone defiled by touching it, according to the Jewish traditions i.

i Misn. Oholot, c. 2. sect 4.

Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible

Who shall roll us away the stone? ( ;). Alone in Mark. The opposite of in 15:46. In verse 4 rolled back (, perfect passive indicative) occurs also. Both verbs occur in Koine writers and in the papyri. Clearly the women have no hope of the resurrection of Jesus for they were raising the problem (, imperfect) as they walked along.

Fuente: Robertson’s Word Pictures in the New Testament

Peculiar to Mark.

Fuente: Vincent’s Word Studies in the New Testament

1) “And they said among themselves,” (kai elegon pros heautas) “And they said among themselves,” one to the other, the three women of Mar 16:1. They pondered, kept inquiring of each other, a problem that the Lord took care of, as in Exo 14:13-16.

2) “Who shall roll us away the stone,” (tis apokulisei hemin ton lithon) “Who will roll away the stone for us; The angel did, Mat 28:12. They had either been to the tomb previously, or had learned that the large stone was before the outer entrance, as the stone at Lazarus’ tomb was rolled away, Joh 11:39; Joh 11:41.

3) “From the door of the sepulchre?” (ek tes thuras tou mnemeiou) “Out of and away from the door of the tomb?” Out of and away from the outer entrance to the tomb? This was the question of their conversation as they neared the sepulchre, Mat 28:1. They seem not to have known of the Roman watch guard and the seal, Mat 27:62-66; Nor did they consider angelic helpers, in time of need, Heb 1:14.

Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary

3. And they said among themselves. Mark alone expresses this doubt; but as the other Evangelists relate that the stone was rolled away by the angel, it may easily be inferred, that they remained in perplexity and doubt as to what they should do, until the entrance was opened up by the hand of God. But let us learn from this, that in consequence of having been carried away by their zeal, they came there without due consideration. They had seen a stone placed before the sepulcher, to hinder any one from entering. Why did not this occur to them, when they were at home and at leisure, but because they were seized with such fear and astonishment, that thought and recollection failed them? But as it is a holy zeal that blinds them, God does not charge them with this fault.

Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary

(3) And they said among themselves . . .Literally, and they were saying to themselves. The words were on the point of rising to their lips as they looked up and saw the stone rolled away.

Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)

3 And they said among themselves, Who shall roll us away the stone from the door of the sepulchre?

Ver. 3. See Trapp on “ Mat 28:5 “ See Trapp on “ Mat 28:6 “

Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)

3, 4. ] It had been rolled away by an angel, Matt.

. . is stated as a reason why they could see that it was rolled away on looking up , possibly at some distance. This explanation is according to Mark’s manner of describing minute circumstantial incidents; but to refer this clause back as the reason why they questioned who should remove the stone, is not only harsh, but inconsistent with the usage of this Gospel.

Fuente: Henry Alford’s Greek Testament

Mar 16:3 . : as they went to the sepulchre, they kept saying to each other ( ad invicem , Vulg [163] , , Euthy.). : their only solicitude was about the stone at the sepulchre’s mouth: no thought of the guards in Mk.’s account. The pious women thought not of angelic help. Men had rolled the stone forward and could roll it back, but it was beyond woman’s strength.

[163] Vulgate (Jerome’s revision of old Latin version).

Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson

among = to. Greek. pros. App-104.

Who shall roll, &c. ? That was their only difficulty; therefore they could not have heard about the sealing and the watch. This is a Divine supplement, peculiar to Mark.

shall = will.

roll us away. The ground being on an incline (sideways), therefore the door was more easily closed than opened.

from = cut of (Gk. ek. App-104.): out of the bottom of the incline. Not the same word as in Mar 16:8. L and TR read apo (App-104.), away from, as in Mar 16:8.

Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics

3, 4.] It had been rolled away by an angel, Matt.

. . is stated as a reason why they could see that it was rolled away on looking up, possibly at some distance. This explanation is according to Marks manner of describing minute circumstantial incidents; but to refer this clause back as the reason why they questioned who should remove the stone, is not only harsh, but inconsistent with the usage of this Gospel.

Fuente: The Greek Testament

Mar 16:3. , from) Therefore the sepulchre had been very securely guarded. The women, however, were not aware that it had been also sealed [Mat 27:66].

Fuente: Gnomon of the New Testament

Who: Mar 15:46, Mar 15:47, Mat 27:60-66

Reciprocal: Gen 29:8 – roll Mat 28:2 – for Luk 24:2 – General Joh 11:39 – Take Joh 20:1 – the stone

Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge

THE STONE AT THE DOOR

Who shall roll us away the stone from the door of the sepulchre?

Mar 16:3

The text suggests various questions.

I. Why was there ever a sepulchre on earth?A sepulchre tells of sorrow, sickness, bereavement, death. How came it there? By one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin. The sin of man, small so far as the act was concerned, but vast in the principle involved, and in the results it entailed, placed him and his posterity under the curse of the law. Every pang of sickness speaks of Gods broken law; every corpse of the power of sin; every grave of the penalty of disobedience.

II. Why was there a sepulchre for Jesus?Because it was ordained in the counsel of the Godhead that Christ should be buried, as well as die. Had He not been laid in the sepulchre, we might have had reason to doubt the reality of His death. As the death of Christ was a true, real, and proper death, so His burial was a true, real, and proper burial. His body at death was confided to men above suspicion. His interment was witnessed by many spectators, and His tomb was such that it was eminently adapted to guard against a spurious, and to illustrate a genuine, resurrection. Thus was it necessary that Christ should be buried in order to verify His death; and because, as our substitute, He must lie down in the grave, whither we all must go. He Who was to be the first-fruits of our resurrection, Who was both to illustrate its character and make known its power, must also Himself lie in one of earths graves, that He might thus sanctify the world as the resting-place of His sleeping saint.

III. Why was that stone put there?Matthew gives the reason. Never did men more thoroughly overreach themselves than did the chief priests and Pharisees in desiring Pilate to seal the stone and guard the sepulchre. The very means by which they hoped to prevent the Resurrection were made the occasion of more gloriously effecting the purpose of God, and we should have lost some of the most striking and irrefragable proofs of the Resurrection, had not this request been made by the Jews and granted by Pilate. Thus did God cause the wrath of man to praise Him, and the plottings of the enemies of Christ to prove the strongest props to the doctrine of the Resurrection. The stone was rolled to the mouth of the sepulchre by Joseph to protect the body of Christ. It was sealed, so that it could not be removed without being detected. It was guarded by a band of Roman soldiers, disciplined in the stern severities of military law, in order to drive away or capture His disciples should they attempt to seize the body; and its presence, its sealing, and its guarding, designed as obstacles to the Resurrection, were really so many proofs of its accomplishment.

IV. Who rolled that stone away? and for what purpose?Matthew will give us the answer. Here again we see the wonder-working power of God in the transactions connected with this scene. Had our Lord rolled away the stone, it might have been said that He was not dead, but only in a state of asphyxia, or trance, and that, reviving, He did, in exercise of desperate strength, remove the rock at the tombs mouth, and by collusion with the soldiers escape from the sepulchre, and so give birth to the story of the Resurrection. But in consequence of the earthquake and the angelic appearance, the Roman guard did shake with fear, and became as dead men; and while they thus seemed petrified with alarm, Jesus calmly rises from His rocky bed, folds His grave-clothes, and lays them in order in the tomb, and then walks forth the Resurrection and the Life, the Conqueror of death, and the Victor of the grave.

Illustration

Compare the inscriptions on heathen and Christian tombs. Look at the tombs which still exist in that cradle-land of religion, art, and scienceEgypt; and we find sculptured and painted over and upon them representations of jugglers and dancing women, and grotesque animals, and unsightly gods, and domestic or festive scenes; everything which speaks of this world, nothing of the next. Look at the graveyards of Mohammedan countries, with their painted and gilded tablets and turbaned headstones, and as you decipher their Arabic inscriptions, you find them all pointing to a life of sensual bliss in the paradise of the false prophet. But most emphatically is this contrast brought out at Rome in the Galleria Lapidaria in the Vatican. Opening the door of this long gallery, you see upon your right hand the wall covered with broken tombstones and tablets taken from the burial-places of old pagan Rome; and on your left, the wall lined with slabs and inscriptions dug up from the catacombs where, under Rome itself, were concealed and buried thousands of the early Christians. On the pagan side you see the records of despair, and read words of anger against the gods. O relentless fortune, writes a mother over her child, who delighteth in cruel death! why is Maximus so suddenly snatched from me? Read another inscription: While I lived, well! my drama is now ended; soon yours will be: farewell, and applaud me. Read another: I, Proscopius, who lived twenty years, lift up my hand against him who took me away innocent. On the Christian side you find records of peace and hope, comfort and resignation: Sabbatia has retired in the sleep of peace. Arethusa sleeps in God. Salonica, thy soul is in bliss, thou wilt rise with the saints through Christ. Alexander is not dead, but lives beyond the stars, and his body rests in this tomb. The wave of death has not dared to deprive Constans of the crown to which he was entitled by giving his life to the sword. All the sorrows of the old world, and all the sorrows of the heathen world, are of men without hope. For them there is a great stone at the door of the sepulchre still.

(SECOND OUTLINE)

IMAGINARY DIFFICULTIES

We may note some important lessons which this incident teaches:

I. That gloomy forebodings should never prevent us from doing our duty.These women apprehended that they could not roll away the stone, but were not turned away from their purpose.

II. That those who talk of difficulties have frequently but little knowledge of the actual state of affairs.What chiefly troubled the women was the stone; but there were other circumstances of a more serious naturethe seal of the Roman governor, the company of soldiers, the jealous Jews; but of the latter they said nothing.

III. That difficulties, as difficulties, are sometimes more imaginary than real.The feared obstacles may exist, but the difficulty they cause may be of no account. The stone, in the present instance, had doubtless been placed on the door of the sepulchre, but it had also been already rolled away.

Illustrations

(1) What a striking emblem we have in this simple narrative of the experience of many Christians! How often they are oppressed and cast down by anticipation of evils, and yet in the time of need find the thing they feared removed and the stone rolled away! A large proportion of their anxieties arise from things which never really happen. We look forward to all the possibilities of the journey towards heaven. We conjure up in our imagination all kinds of crosses and obstacles. We carry mentally to-morrows troubles as well as to-days. And often, very often, we find at the end that our doubts and alarms were groundless, and that the thing we dreaded most has never come to pass at all. Let us pray for more practical faith. Let us believe that in the path of duty we shall never be entirely forsaken. Let us go forward boldly, and we shall often find that the lion in the way is chained and the seeming hedge of thorns is only a shadow.

(2) Burden not thy soul with sadness!

Make the wiser, better choice!

Tread the path of life with gladness!

God doth bid thee to rejoice.

In to-days bright sunshine basking,

Leave to-morrows cares alone;

Spoil not present joys by asking,

Who shall roll away the stone?

Fuente: Church Pulpit Commentary

Chapter 25.

The Stone and the Grave

“And they said among themselves, Who shall roll us away the stone from the door of the sepulchre? And when they looked, they saw that the stone was rolled away: for it was very great. And entering into the sepulchre, they saw a young man sitting on the right side, clothed in a long white garment; and they were affrighted.”-Mar 16:3-5.

The Stone at the Tomb.

Constraining Love.

In continuing the story of the holy women I feel almost constrained to do so in terms of love; for it is love that I still find illustrated in their conduct. When they set out in the darkness of that early morning for the tomb, all their thoughts were of their buried Lord, and the honour they meant to pay Him. But they had inadvertently left out of their calculations one most important factor. Apparently they had never heard that to make assurance doubly sure the priests had sealed the stone with the official seal, and had also set a guard to prevent any intruders from coming near. All they knew about was the great stone which they had seen Joseph and Nicodemus roll up to the entrance of the grave on the Friday. As they stole through the silent streets on their kindly and gracious errand, the remembrance of that struck a sort of chill to their souls. It seemed to doom their errand to failure; it seemed to make absolutely impossible the fulfilment of their loving purpose. For the stone was “very great,” far beyond the power of a few weak women to roll away. The consternation the remembrance of this “very great” stone caused them is suggested by the form of the Greek verb. “They were saying among themselves,” our R.V. translates, and that is an improvement upon the A.V. with its “they said,” as it does suggest continuance. “They kept saying,” would have brought out the idea which the Greek tense suggests. This one difficulty absorbed their thought. They “kept saying to one another, who shall roll us away the stone?” But though they remembered that a great stone lay across the mouth of the tomb, they never seem to have dreamed of turning back. Not one of them seems to have said, “It’s of no use, we might just as well go home.” They realised all about the seemingly insuperable difficulty that confronted them, they could not get that great stone out of their minds, they kept saying to one another, “Who shall roll us away the stone?” and yet, in spite of it all, they held on their way. And if you ask me why, I can only answer that love constrained them. I do not know what they expected when they got there. Possibly, as some rather prosaic commentators suggest, they thought they might find some labourers on their way to work, or Joseph’s own gardener who would help them to open the tomb. Possibly, I say, but I do not know. What I do know is, that love constrained them to press on.

The Recklessness of Love.

And here I get another quality of a real and genuine love for the Lord-there is an element of holy recklessness about it. “Love hopeth all things,” says the Apostle. “Hopeth all things,” hopes in spite of difficulties, and obstacles, and impossibilities. Hopeth all things, hopeth always, hopeth everywhere. There is a sort of reckless, and abandoned courage about love. “Magnificent,” said Napoleon about a charge the British cavalry made upon the serried ranks of the French infantry, “magnificent, but not war.” If I may use the illustration (though it is obviously imperfect), love flings itself in the same splendid and reckless way into what look like hopeless enterprises and impossible tasks. It never turns back in face of a difficulty; it may not see how the “great stone” confronting it is to be removed, but it marches on, it makes the attempt nevertheless. That is one of the unfailing marks of a deep and devoted love, it “hopeth all things,” it makes ventures, it takes risks, it attempts the impossible, it is reckless and quixotic in the abandonment of its courage. That is how love worked in the case of these holy women. They had a mighty love for their crucified and buried Lord; and their love begat in them a mighty faith, the kind of faith that can remove mountains and laughs at impossibilities.

How Love Works.

That is how love always works. Love is always driving men to do the apparently impossible. Look at Paul, making the world his parish, laying evangelistic plans that embraced not Palestine and Syria merely, but Asia and Greece and Italy and even distant Spain. There was something reckless in the daring of it. What was the impulse that drove him to it? The love of Christ constrained him. Think of William Carey of Northamption, the “consecrated cobbler,” as Sidney Smith sneeringly called him, going out to attack the hoary religion of India. It seemed an absurdly reckless enterprise upon which to embark. So indeed it was. But he went, in the holy recklessness of love. Think of Robert Morison and his mission to China. Men openly scoffed at him. They said that the idea of one man being able to affect that mighty and stolid empire was absurd. And so it was, but it was the kind of absurdity in which love ever delights. For that is the very mark of love, it never counts difficulties.

Does it Work so in Us?

This reckless and daring love, this love which issues in a faith that removes mountains, is it a characteristic of ours? Is it an outstanding quality of the Church of today? Do we astonish the world by the recklessness of our courage, by the dash and abandon with which we fling ourselves into apparently impossible enterprises? That is not my reading of the situation. There is not much recklessness about the modern Church. Her policy is a calculating, prudential kind of policy. We make sure that a job is compassable and manageable before we tackle it. We cut our coat according to our cloth. We do not say, “Here is a world to be evangelised-let us go forth and evangelise it.” We say rather, “Here is so much money, and here are so many men, we will confine our efforts to this little corner.” You would not say there was much “recklessness,” much daring about our missionary policy. We are lethargic, limited in our view, tepid in our temper. We hear of no great and daring schemes; of no mighty challenges to our faith. There is no imperious summons to attempt the seemingly impossible. We only do what we think we can easily accomplish. There is an absence of the heroic temper. And that again is the result of coldness of heart and lack of love. Religion is a propriety with us and not a passion. What men will do when a mighty passion takes hold of them!

Love in Action.

I have been reading again the story of Captain John Brown and his noble sons. John Brown had a passion for freedom. To him slavery was a ghastly and wicked crime. He did his best to stir up the conscience of the United States on the subject. But when the country seemed lethargic and indifferent, John Brown determined he would do a deed that should wake it out of its sleep, and bring home to the nation’s conscience, the negro’s intolerable wrong. So he and his sons and a score of other like-minded men with him, flung themselves with reckless courage against all the embattled strength of the slave-holding South. John Brown’s sons were killed in the fighting; John Brown himself was shot some months or so later. “What brought you here?” asked a Southerner as he put a cup of cold water to the lips of John Brown’s son, Watson, as he lay mortally wounded. “What brought you here?” And the dying man lifted up his eyes to him and answered simply, “Duty, sir,”

“Duty?” Yes, but what lay aback of “duty?” Love! a burning, passionate love of freedom, a love for the negro who suffered such dire and cruel wrong. Love lay aback of it, and the attempt of the impossible, the sacrifice of life itself, is nothing but duty to love. I ask again, how much of this reckless courage is there about us?

The Victory of Love.

Commentators find in all this a truth of great comfort, as we think of the difficulties confronting us, namely, this, that difficulties disappear if we march boldly up to them. There is an old Indian legend which tells how a traveller once came to what seemed an impassable river, and on the other side of the river, a thicket of thorns through which he could see the eyes of fierce beasts glaring at him. But when, undaunted, the traveller pressed on, the impassable river turned out to be nothing but a mirage, and he walked on solid ground; and the thorn thicket a phantom thicket, so that he passed through it without let or hindrance; and the wild beasts were mere imaginings. John Bunyan teaches much the same lesson when he says that Christian for a time was hard put to it, and dare not move because he saw fierce lions on the path. But when he plucked up heart to continue his journey, he found the lions could do him no harm for they were chained. The obstacles disappeared when boldly and courageously confronted. And while I do not wish to imply that our difficulties are shadowy and unreal, I do believe this, that if we march up to them with the courage born of a great love, we shall be able to overcome them all. The difficulty is more in our own hearts than in the tasks confronting us. We have our big problems here at home, the indifference of the masses of the people, the tremendous power of drink and lust and sin of every form; we have our vast problem abroad, with almost three-fourths of the world to win for Christ, but I believe if we had that kind of blazing love which is not afraid to tackle big tasks, and undertake mighty enterprises, we should find ourselves able to solve these problems, and overcome these colossal difficulties. Love that is adventurous and daring, soon becomes love triumphant and victorious. For when love marches up to these great stones that seem to obstruct the path of Christ, she finds that other and mightier hands than her own are busy in the work; she finds the mightiest difficulties removed, the most impossible tasks accomplished by that God Who is able to do exceeding abundantly above all we can ask or even think.

The Angel in the Tomb.

“And entering into the tomb, they saw a young man sitting on the right side, arrayed in a white robe; and they were amazed.” And this was why they found no “great stone” across the mouth of the tomb to bar their entrance. God had been beforehand with them. God had prepared the way for them. I turn to Matthew’s account:-“And, behold, there was a great earthquake; for an angel of the Lord descended from heaven, and came and rolled away the stone, and sat upon it” (Mat 28:2). On their way to the tomb, they had kept saying to one another, Who shall roll us away the stone? And already God had sent one of those immortal spirits who ever do Him service to remove every difficulty out of their path, so that when they came to the grave, they found not a “great stone” but an “open door.” And they were “amazed.” They had never thought of the angel. They had never lifted up their eyes above the earth; they had never once thought that heaven might intervene for their help. And so when they saw this radiant being sitting there, they were “amazed.”

Forgetting the Angels.

We are continually making the mistake these women made, leaving the angel out of account. We contemplate the “great stones” we have to remove, and then we reckon up our own scanty resources and we cry, “Who is sufficient for these things?” We forget that God is in the business. We forget that this world of ours is the scene of vast and incalculable spiritual ministries. We greatly err when we confine God and His holy angels to some far-off and inaccessible heaven. God is here: the angels are all about us. “The angel of the Lord encampeth round about them that fear Him and delivereth them.” “Behold,” was God’s promise to Israel, “I send an angel before thee, to keep thee by the way and to bring thee into the place which I have prepared.” And still the angels go before us and fight for us. And that is why difficulties that seemed to us so insurmountable often clean vanish from our path when we advance boldly upon them. God has been beforehand with us and His angel has rolled away the stone. It will be a great day for us when we catch the vision of the angel: when we see the mountain of the Lord full of horses and chariots of fire. The day when we get that vision will be a day of amazement, but it will also be a day when pessimism and despair will for ever flee away; we shall shrink from no task, we shall tremble before no “great stone,” for the task is not ours only but God’s.

Life, not Death.

No wonder they were amazed. They came expecting to find a dead body, and they found a white-robed angel. They saw an “angel” in the tomb; triumphant life in the place of death; a representative of eternity in the place of mortality; immortal youth in the place of weakness and decay. And that is what believing men and women have seen in the grave ever since that first Easter morning; they have seen the angel. Before that Easter morning men and women saw in the grave little but corruption, decay, dissolution. Even in these days people who turn their backs on Christ see little else. But we who know that Jesus died and rose again are always able to see the sheen of the angel’s robe and to hear the beating of the angel’s wing when we gather round the grave. And to us, about our own dear ones he says, as did this angel about the Lord, “He is not here, He is risen.” And the vision of the angel in the tomb enables us to rejoice even at the grave with “joy unspeakable and full of glory,” for we know now that if the earthly house of this our tabernacle be dissolved, “we have a building of God, a house not made with hands eternal in the heavens.”

Fuente: The Gospel According to St. Mark: A Devotional Commentary

3

This verse is referred to at chapter 15:47.

Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary

Mar 16:3. Who shall roll, etc.? A natural and graphic touch in the narrative. The Lord had removed the difficulty, before it was actually encountered.

Fuente: A Popular Commentary on the New Testament

Observe here, 1. With what pomp and triumph doth our Lord arise; an angel is sent from heaven to roll away the stone. But could not Christ have risen without the angel’s help? yes, doubtless; he that raised himself, could surely have rolled away the stone; but God thinks fit to send an officer from heaven to open the prison-door of the grave, and by setting our surety at liberty, proclaims our debt to the divine justice fully satisfied. Besides, it was fit that the angels, who had been witnesses of our Saviour’s passion, should also be witnesses of his resurrection.

Observe, 2. Our Lord’s resurrection declared, He is risen, he is not here. Almighty God never intended that the darling of his soul should be left in an obscure sepulchre; He is not here, said the angel, where they laid him, where you left him. Death has lost its prey, and the grave has lost its prisoner.

Observe, 3. It is not said, he is not here, for he is raised, but, He is risen. The word imports the active power of Christ, or the self-quickening principle by which Christ raised himself from the dead, He shewed himself alive after his passion Act 1:3.

Hence learn, That it was the divine nature, or godhead, of Christ, which raised the human nature from death to life; others were raised from the grave by Christ’s power; but he raised himself by his own power.

Observe, 4. The testimony or witness given of our Lord’s resurrection; that of an angel in human shape. A young man clothed in a long white garment. But why is an angel the first publisher of our Saviour’s resurrection? Surely the dignity of our Lord’s person, and the excellency of his resurrection require that it should be published. How very serviceable and officious the holy angels were in attending upon our Saviour in the days of his flesh, see in the note on Mat 28:6-7.

Observe, 5. The persons to whom our Lord’s resurrection was first declared and made known; to women, to the two Marys. But why to women? And why to these women?

Why to women? Because God will make use of weak means for producing great effects; knowing that the weakness of the instrument redounds to the greater honour of the agent. In the whole dispensation of the gospel, God intermixes divine power with human weakness. Thus the conception of Christ was by the power of the Holy Ghost, but his mother was a poor woman, a carpenter’s spouse; so the crucifixion of Christ was in between two thieves. But the powers of heaven and earth trembling, the rocks rending, the graves opening, shewed a mixture of divine power. Thus here God will honour what instruments he pleases for the accomplishment of his own purposes.

But why to these women; the two Marys, is the first discovery made of our Saviour’s resurrection? Possibly it was a reward for their magnanimity and masculine courage; these women cleaved to Christ when the apostles forsook him; they assisted at his cross, they attended at his funeral, they waited at his sepulchre; these women had more courage than the apostles, therefore God makes them apostles to the apostles, this was a tacit rebuke, a secret check given to the apostles, that they should be out-done by women; these holy women went before the apostles in the last services that were done for Christ, and therefore the apostles come after them in their rewards and comforts.

Observe, 6. The evidence which the angel offers to the women, to evince and prove the verity and certainty of our Saviour’s resurrection, namely, by an appeal to their senses; Behold the place where they laid him; the senses, when rightly disposed, are the proper judges of all sensible objects, and accordingly Christ himself did appeal to his disciples senses concerning the truth of his own resurrection: Behold my hands and my feet, that it is I myself.

And indeed, if we must not believe our senses, we shall want the best external evidence for the proof of the certainty and truth of the Christian religion; namely, the miracles wrought by Christ and his apostles: for what assurance can we have of the reality of those miracles, but from our senses?

Therefore, says our Saviour, If you believe not me, yet believe the works that I do; that is, the miracles which I have wrought before your eyes.

Now as my senses tell me that Christ’s miracles were true, so they assure me that the doctrine of transubstantiation is false.

From the whole, note, That the Lord Jesus Christ, by the omnipotent power of his godhead, revived and rose again from the dead the third day, to the terror and consternation of his enemies, and the unspeakable joy and consolation of believers.

Observe, lastly, The quick dispatch made of the joyful news of our Lord’s resurrection to the sorrowful disciples: Go tell my brethren, says Christ, Mat 28:10. Christ might have said, “Go tell those apostate apostles, that cowardly left me in my danger , that durst not own me in the high priest’s hall, that durst not come within the shadow of my cross, nor within sight of my sepulchre;” not a word of this, by way of upbraiding them for their late shameful cowardice, but all words of kindness; Go tell my brethren.

Where note, That Christ calls them brethren after his resurrection and exaltation; thereby shewing that the change in his condition had wrought no change in his affection towards his poor disciples’ but those that were his brethren before, in the time of his basement, are still so after his exaltation and advancement? God tell his disciples and Peter, says the angel.

Where note, That St. Peter is here particularly named, not because of his primacy and superiority over the rest of the apostles, as the church of Rome would have it, but because he had sorrow, and stood most in need of comfort; therefore, says Christ by the angel, speak particularly to Peter, be sure that his sad heart be comforted with his joyful news, that he may know that I am friends with him, notwithstanding his late cowardice; Tell the disciples and Peter, that he goeth before you into Galilee.

But why into Galilee? because Jerusalem was now a forsaken place, and people abandoned to destruction; but Galilee was a place where Christ’s ministry was more acceptable. Such places shall be most honoured with Christ’s presence, where his gospel is most accepted.

Fuente: Expository Notes with Practical Observations on the New Testament

Mar 16:3-6. And they said, Who shall roll us away the stone This seems to have been the only difficulty they apprehended. So they knew nothing of Pilates having sealed the stone, and placed a guard of soldiers there. And when they looked , and having lifted up their eyes; they saw Namely, before they arrived quite at the sepulchre; that the stone was rolled away An angel having descended and done this, as is recorded Mat 28:2; where see the note. For it was very great These words, the reader will observe, should be read after the third verse, with which they are connected: an instance of a similar transposition was noted on Mar 11:13. And entering into the sepulchre they saw a young man, &c. Matthew says, this was the angel, who had rolled away the stone, and frightened the guards from the sepulchre. It seems he had now laid aside the terrors in which he was arrayed, and assumed the form and dress of a human being, in order that when the women saw him, they might be as little terrified as possible. See note on Mat 28:5-6. This is the appearance of the one angel which Matthew and Mark have described. The women, much encouraged by the agreeable news, as well as by the sweet accent with which the heavenly being spake, it seems, went down into the sepulchre, and lo, another angel appeared; this is the vision of the two angels, which Luke, Luk 24:3-4, has described as the principal vision. Probably the one sat at the head, the other at the feet, where the body of Jesus had lain. In which situation they showed themselves by-and-by to Mary Magdalene, Joh 20:12.

Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments